First-Hand:List of First Hand Histories

Engineers, scientists, and related professionals have long been the main actors in the drama of technological innovation. Knowing their stories, and the stories of their organizations, is essential to understanding how and why technology has developed as it has for the benefit of humanity. This gives technologists from around the world the opportunity to relate their personal, first-hand experiences as central participants in the process of technical innovation in its broadest context.

Do you have a story to tell? No matter how big or small, we would be delighted to add your memoirs to our collection. Areas like the thought processes that led to choosing a particular engineering solution, how one came up with the idea for an invention, or projects that have given the most personal and professional satisfaction are all great areas of focus for a first hand history, and you can submit your First Hand History here.

Group First-Hand Histories

Evolution of the 2-Person Crew Jet Transport Flight Deck, by Delmar M. Fadden, Peter M. Morton, Richard W. Taylor, and Thomas Lindberg - The authors of this article provide an account of their experiences in conceptualizing and developing the two-person cockpit for commercial airlines.

Gigabit Wireless Networks, by Arogyaswami J. Paulraj, Helmut Bölcskei, Rohit U. Nabar, and Dhananjay A. Gore - A brief account of the development of gigabit wireless networks in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

50 Year Member First-Hand Histories

The 50 Year Member First-Hand Histories is a special collection of First-Hand Histories submitted by loyal members since the merger of the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form IEEE on 1 January 1963.

ASEE Fellows

The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) was founded in 1893 as the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education (SPEE). As part of the observation of its 125th anniversary in 2018, ASEE is compiling these first-hand histories of its Fellow grade members.

The grade of Fellow is one of unusual professional distinction. It is conferred by the Board of Directors upon an ASEE member with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications who has made significant contributions to engineering or engineering technology education or an allied field and to ASEE. The first Fellows were named in 1983. As of 2017 some 400 ASEE members have received this honor.

Sportsvision

Recollections of the development of the FoxTrax hockey puck tracking system, by Rick Cavallaro - Cavallaro discusses how the hockey puck tracking system was developed under Fox’s commission when they won the NHL broadcasting rights in 1995. Included is discussion on the use of infra-red technology in the camera tracking system, development of an ‘electronic puck’ by using LEDs in the puck and the process of synchronizing the cameras and the puck.

My Recollections of the Development of the Glowing Hockey Puck, by Stan Honey - Honey recounts his experiences while working at Newscorp and developing the glowing hockey puck for Fox who were eager to make hockey more accessible to television viewers. He describes the various technical approaches and different kinds of technology used in TV cameras to provide a better viewing experience on television.

Digital Television: The Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) Standard, by Stanley Baron - In this article Baron discusses how the demand for an enhanced, advanced television broadcasting services led the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) to commission a taskforce that was to be engaged in developing digital terrestrial television broadcasting. The DTTB was to offer ‘broadcasters the ability to construct a digital highway into each home that allowed for a range of digital services.’

Negotiating Communications Center Construction in India, by Leonard A. Karr - An engineer for Burns and Roe, Karr recalls an assignment to Calcutta, where he was tasked with meeting with Damodar Valley Corporation to discuss a proposal for installing a central load dispatch and communications center.

Phase Noise, by David B. Leeson - A discussion of phase noise and Leeson's role in standardizing acceptable concepts for a common definition of phase noise in the early 1970s.

Seeing the Light on Ennylabegan, by John O’Donnell - An account of the redesign of the the model 1126A, a stored program PCM telemetry decommutator, to increase its data rate capability from 1.2 Mbps to 2 Mbps and update other features including data compression, paper tape program loading, computer interface, and 4K core memory used for decommutation and data compression program storage to meet the specifics of a contract with a Kwajalein range contractor, LTV Kentron.

Early Developments in T.V. Broadcasting, by John Shaw - Receiving his first television set in 1936, Shaw discusses how he began his career as an electrical engineer and recounts the work done by his father, G. R. Shaw, Chief Engineer of RCA's Tube Division.

Raymond Besson First Hand History - Former professor at École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et des Microtechniques and and Directeur du laboratoire de Chronométrie et Piézoélectricité from 1974 to 2002.

Tube Manufacturing at Sylvania, by W. A. Dickinson - Dickinson discusses his career manufacturing tubes for a number of clients, and his role in the IRE.

A Life in Wire and Cable Engineering, by Emil Evancich - An account of Evancich's career, spanning from head of the manufacturing engineering department, and later president, at Northern Electric Company, head of computer stock market research at William O'Neil & Company, forming Wireflex and becoming chief engineer for Wrap On.

The First Quartz Wrist Watch, by Armin Frei - The world's first quartz wrist watch had been created by a group of researchers Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH), Neuchâtel. Here Frei explains his views on why the world's first quartz wrist watch was Beta 1 and not Beta 21, which is claimed by the Swiss watch industry. Frei then describes how CEH did not use the Beta 1 model after 1968, differing from non-Swiss manufacturers who saw great success by basing their products on Beta 1.

The First Quartz Wrist Watch Assembling Crew, by Armin Frei - Aside Frei's insights on Beta 1 and Beta 21 mentioned in the previous entry, this article sheds light on certain people who were involved the invention of the first quartz wrist watch but who did not receive recognition.

Saving the Transistor Symbol, by Sorab K. Ghandhi - Ghandhi reminisces about early standardization issues pertaining to the symbol used for transistors.

Surfing the Waves of Technological Change. Part One, by Michael S. P. Lucas - An account of Lucas' career spanning his beginnings as a telephone maintenance engineer and teacher, to solid state researcher in thin films and superconductivity and finally a professor of electrical and computer engineering specializing in instrumentation and measurements.

A Memorable Period, by Jack Peterson - An account of Peterson's work in the electronics industry in circuit design, starting with vacuum tubes, then working with early transistors, and his work with integrated circuits.

A Hidden Voltage Source, by R. H. Rehder - An account of a problem encountered by Canadian General Electric Company Limited measuring conductor temperatures at site during commissioning of a 30,000 A, 23 kV , isolated phase bus duct at a large nuclear generating station.

The Birth of Glow Discharge Chemistry, by R.C.G. Swann - A history documenting some of the research performed by the author at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, Essex (1959 -1966) and subsequently at the Shockley Laboratories in Palo Alto, California (1966 - 1968) and at ITT Semiconductors in West Palm Beach, Florida (1968 - 1971).

Beginning of the Silicon Age, by Morris Tanenbaum - This account details the beginnings of the silicon age and chronicles Tanenbaum's involvement with Bell Labs and the development of the transistor under William Shockley.

Computers and Information Processing

My Development as an Engineer in the Years Before Atari, by Allan Alcorn - An account of how and why Alcorn decided to become an engineer, covering the period of his life when he took an RCA home correspondence course in radio and television repair, studied at UC Berkeley and worked at Ampex.

Video Game and Computer Technology Interaction, by Allan Alcorn - In this article Alcorn discusses how computer and video game development through computer technology required re-orientations from engineers who had to apply their skill set to a new medium.

The Birth of IMS/360, by Uri Berman - Outlines the authors experience in the collaborative project between IBM and Rockwell Space which developed IMS/360 (Information Management System/360) which contained DL/I, a program that had been developed previously by Berman.

No Damned Computer Can Tell Me What To Do! The Story of the Naval Tactical Data System, NTDS, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, by David Boslaugh - An incredibly detailed account of the development of the Naval Tactical Data System, the first digitized weapon system in the US Navy, which is rich with photographs, interesting anecdotes and personal recollections of the events and technology.

Origins of Hewlett Packard 35 (HP-35), by Dave Cochran - In this article Cochran traces his work at Hewlett-Packard from the mid 1960s to the early 1970s. In particular he writes about their work on developing the HP-35, a pocket-sized hand-held calculator.

Six Decades of Calculations, by Thomas Cuthbert - Provides an account of all ‘kinds of computing devices’ used over 62 years. A naval pilot officer, Cuthbert earned three EE degrees that ‘have enabled design and synthesis of electrical filters and impedance-matching RF networks in frequency ranges from VLF through K band in conjunction with numerical methods and analysis, especially optimization (nonlinear programming), and computer programming in FORTRAN, BASICA, QuickBASIC, Visual BASIC, and C languages.’

Interview of Peter J. Denning, by Dave Walden - An interview with Denning on the course of his career, originally published in the October-December 2012 issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.

The First Commercial Computer Application at General Electric, by Burton Grad - Grad details how GE learned the ‘value of using analog computing facilities for scientific calculations and the enhanced use of punch card equipment for all kinds of business applications like accounting, manufacturing control and engineering support’ during the world war II. Its investments in these fields made GE a leading company in computerization.

Wi-Fi's Early Days, by Alex Hills - An account of Hill's involvement in development of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) from 1993 to 1998.

The AT&T BELLMAC-32 Microprocessor Development, by Sung Mo (Steve) Kang - In this article Kang contextualizes the emergence of the microprocessor BELLMAC-80 during the division of Bell Laboratories into two separate entities due to federal pressure from 1974-1984.

Internet's Origin, by Yngvar Lundh - An overview of the technology underlying the Internet, including a discussion of the author's role in the development of Arpanet.

Over 50 Years in Computing, by Raymond E. Miller - An account of Miller's work in the computing field, beginning in 1950 with engineering courses at IBM.

Bell Labs and 2001: A Space Odyssey, by A. Michael Noll - Noll discusses the role he, John Pierce and Bell Labs played in the set production of the pioneering science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey

New Media at Bell Labs, by A. Michael Noll - A history of Bell Labs' forays into computer art and animation in the 1960s.

The VanDerBeek-Knowlton Movies, by A. Michael Noll - An account of filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek's collaboration with Bell Labs researcher Kenneth Knowlton in the production of ten computer-animated movies.

A Historical Cobol Note, by Robert Patrick - This brief account notes how Patrick discovered a debate in the 1930s on producing and standardizing a single language for international commerce, and integrated the constructs of one of the contenders, Basic English, into the Honeywell compiler.

Measurement in Early Software, by Robert Patrick - An account on Patrick's involvement in the the development of software for various early IBM machines (701, 704, 709, 7040, 7090), and the engineering approaches that came along with it.

Operating System Roots, by Robert Patrick - A history of the evolution of various IBM operating systems and Patrick's role in their development.

Interview with Rolf Skår, by Dave Walden - An interview with Skår on the course of his career, originally published in the January-March 2013 issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.

Things I remember about my time with IBM - by Russel Theisen - A recollection about how Theisen suggested using an oscilloscope to solve a particular problem with excessive noise in the transmission of data of an IBM 7030 computer in the North Street Plant of Endicott, NY.

Contributions of Russell E. Theisen - Theisen talks about how in 1964 he suggested and implemented a "cookbook" of substitute transistors, diodes and other parts for replacement and service on IBM machines.

PDP-8/E OMNIBUS Ride, by Remo J. Vogelsang - An account of Vogelsang's experience at DEC where he designed the PDP-8/E, an improvement on the DEC minicomputer PDP-8 using a new I/O bus, the OMNIBUS, and its debut at the 1970 WESCON exhibition Western Electronic Show and Convention.

Early PC History - by Alan Weinkrantz, a brief account which discusses the importance of Datapoint in the history of the development of the personal computer.

Hacking Apollo's Guidance Computer, by Walt Whipple - A description of using a known bug in the Apollo software to implement a memory/channel dump routine on program restart during command module testing at North American Rockwell

Novell 1980-1990, by Roger White - A brief account of three stages in Novell's history, first when Novel Data Systems is founded, second from 1983-1989 in which the company witnessed huge success and employed thousands and third in 1990 when there was a management shift and the visionaries left.

Arc Furnace Transformers (and me!), by Thomas Blalock - Traces the history of arc furnaces and provides details of the furnace transformers for Pontiac and Baytown, and details Blalock's experiences and observations on those furnaces.

My Life in Power Electronics, by Bimal K. Bose - An account of Bose's professional career from a power engineer in India in the mid-1950s to joining the faculty at Bengal Engineering College to being employed by General Electric's Corporate Research and Development division.

The Life of an Engineer, by Arthur Cable - Cable's recollection of his career in power spanning England, Singapore, Ceylon and Canada.

My Life Over 60 Years in the Development of Our National Energy Systems, by Jack Casazza - Cassaza, who came from a working class family, writes about his schooling, his admission to the engineering program at Cooper Union, his part-time work that sustained his education, his education in the V-7 program at Cornell and Princeton University, enrollment in the Midshipmen program at the Naval Academy following his recruitment in the navy during the WWII. After this period he describes his work at PSE&G, further education at GE electrical and management roles in the IEEE in the post WWII era.

An Electrophysicist's Role in Academia and Star Wars, by Enrico Levi - The author of the texts "Polyphase Motors: a Direct Approach to their Design" and "Electromechanical Power Conversion", Levi discusses his career in academia, his teaching approach where he encouraged his students to broaden their horizons to astrophysics, and his role in the Star Wars program, which he began in 1956.

Generators and Electrical Insulation, by Vernon McFarlin - McFarlin discusses the Great Depression and poor job prospects afterwards, and his work in testing generators for predicting the life of electrical insulation.

Engineering Profession and Education

An Engineer's World Travels, by Leo Berberich - Berberich details his varied career, focusing on his time working in international relations at Westinghouse.

A Co-op Student Before Graduation, by Dean Chapman - This article examines the Co-op Student before Graduation program, its benefits for the prospective engineer and its role as a recruiting tool for GE.

It's a Small World, by Samuel Colodny - An account of Colodny's career spanning from Philco to American Electronic Laboratories.

A Checkered Career in Electrical Engineering, by William A. Edson - Edson discusses his varied career, spanning from the University of Kansas, Bell Labs, the Electromagnetic Technology Corporation and the Radio Physics Lab of SRI International.

Engineering in Military, Civilian, and Government Sectors, by Alfred Holtum - Holtum recalls his lengthy and varied career starting with the Signal Corps, and spanning from the Andrew California Corporation, the R&D Department of the CIA, and Professor of Engineering Technology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Adversity No Match for Electronics Engineer, by Frank T. Luff - Raised in a small farming town in rural Nebraska, Luff discusses his experiences in the Great Depression, difficulties finding adequate math and science courses in high school, and various obstacles overcome in his career as a radar engineer.

Unions and Utilities in New York, by Alexander Lurkis - One of the founders of the first civil service technical organization, the Civil Service Technical Guild, and former president of AFL-CIO, Lurkis discusses his role in organized labor in New York, his position of Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Gas and Electricity in the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity under Commissioner Armand D'Angelo, and his post-retirement consulting activities.

Optimizing the Project Engineering Process, by C. R. Schmidt - Detailed musings about Schmidt's experience and thoughts on the engineering industry and its trends towards younger engineers who have a fresh grasp on emerging technologies that enable their companies to make a profit.

Events that Influenced My Career, by Gerard H. (Gus) Gaynor - An account of Gaynor's experiences at College, 3M Europe where he worked for more than 25 years and his post-retirement activities in IEEE.

History of GHN, by Richard Gowen - Gowen, past president of the IEEE and Chair of the IEEE History Committee from 2007-2008, served as a guide for the development of the Global History Network and provides an account of the motivations behind the development of the GHN, its objectives, and the processes involved in establishing it.

Lighting and Lasers

The Saga of "Astral Convertible", by Per Biorn - An account of Biorn's involvement in the construction of eight towers with light and sound which would respond to dancers in a performance by the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

The First Continuous Visible Laser, by Alan White - White details his experiences working on the laser from 1958 - 1962. He explains how much of the innovation in this field at Bell Labs was sponsored by Signal Corps’ request after the latter recognized the potential of laser for communications.

Adventures at Wartime Los Alamos, by Lawrence Johnston - Johnson details his experiences in Los Alamos, work on the Fat Man implosion type bomb, and focuses on wartime bomb events such as the Trinity test of the Fat Man bomb and the delivery missions of the bombs to Japan.

Spanning the Cold War Nuclear Weapons Era: 1956-58 to 1994-2001, by Roy Merrill - An account discussing Merrill's role in the development of nuclear weapons at Sandia Corporation, the ARIES weapons disassembly facility, and a plant prototypic system for immobilizing waste plutonium accumulated from nuclear weapons development.

My Experience in the Army Air Force, 1943 to 1946, by Herman Lunden Miller - Miller discusses his experiences in the Army which started his on a career in physics, including radiation safety, controlled thermonuclear research, the space program, and nuclear power plants.

Radio and Radar

Innovations in Radio Communications: Post WWI, by Paul D. Andrews - An account of Andrews' early career after World War I and his development of a radio transmitter which was meant to be installed on Post Office aircraft for navigational purposes.

My First Handmade Radio, by Di Chen - A brief description of the first radio built by Chen during the last years of World War II.

My Personal History With APS, Part 1, by William Croswell - This article contains a detailed account of Croswell’s education at the Airforce Institute of Technology and his subsequent work on various aircraft projects such as F-102A, Falcon Missile and Bomarc missile. His engagements with these projects were directly linked with his research interests in Radome research and development.

My Personal History With APS, Part 2a, by William Croswell - Here Croswell continues his narrative, describing various rocket projects including Echo I and II, Little Joe, Project Mercury, the Apollo program, experiments with antenna analysis and Brush cathode discharge tubes.

My Personal History With APS, Part 2b, by William Croswell - A short continuation outlining the development of GTD methods of predicting antenna patterns on aircraft scale models, thin wire structures and the Moment Method.

My Personal History, Part 3, by William Croswell - Croswell's final installment, elaborating on his work on microwave radiometer measurements of the Cape Cod Canal, radiometer development on the AAFE Program, scatterometers, and the stepped frequency microwave radiometer at NASA Langley.

Early Recollections of Ham Radio, by John J. Dougherty - A brief account of Dougherty's first experiences with ham radio, following a near-fatal case of pneumatic fever.

A Passion for Radio, by A. James Ebel - Ebel discusses his interest in radio began in the mid-20s and recollects his lengthy career in radio broadcasting.

Slide Rule Gives Flight to Tracking Antenna, by G. Fonda-Bonardi - A narrative dealing with Fonda-Bonardi’s work in the Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) where he was responsible for the design, test, and integration of the RF subsystem for the APG37 airborne fire control radar which was intended for use in the new generation of jet interceptors and fighter airplanes, beginning with the F86.

Hand-Held Radios and Electronic Beepers, by Al Gross - Gross discusses his work on a "Joan-Eleanor" system of hand-hand radios which operated on high frequencies, and the development of Royalcall, the first beeper.

It Started with Ham Radio, by Pete Lefferson - Lefferson details how his interest in ham radio in 1956 led him to become an electrical engineer and IEEE member.

Electronic Warfare, Radio Receivers and Countermeasures, by Howard O. Lorenzen - One of the founders of the Electronic Warfare Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, Lorenzen discusses his role in the development of countermeasures during World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Radar Research and Development during WWII, by J. Rennie Whitehead - An overview of Whitehead's career including his work on the IFF Mark III and the first 400MHz transponder for the Alouette topside sounder satellite.

Description of the Error Angle Counter module, by Mark Birnbaum - A description of the Error Angle Counter module, which was part of Electronic Coupling Data Unit (ECDU) prototype, which was part of the Apollo Guidance System used in the Command Module and Lunar Excursion Module.

My Work on the Apollo Program, by Richard Coen - An account of Coen and his boss, Ken Mac Lean's work on developing a communications system design for the proposal to develop the Lunar Excursion Module for the ongoing Apollo Program.

Space Program reminiscences, by Carol Cram - Recollections of Crom's time at the Tulsa Division of Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC) in 1956-1958

My Experiences as a Space Engineer: The Pre-launch Years, by Sajjad Durrani - A narrative of Durrani's experiences from his engineering college in Lahore, doctorate in New Mexico, work at GE communications, and work teaching at various universities and colleges in the US, RCA Space Center, Comsat Labs, and Operations Research, Inc. (ORI) and NASA. The article provides a detailed account of his involvement in space projects.

Recollections on Education and Missile Guidance Systems, by Emil Gaynor - Gaynor recalls his early studies and his work at ADT Company and the Fairchild Guided Missiles Division and RCA where he developed the hybrid fire control computer for the Talos weapon system and the display systems for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS).

Development of the Instrument Landing System Glide Path, by Leon Himmel - An account of Himmel's work at the ITT Federal Laboratories developing a glide path for the instrument landing system. Development work on the equi-signal glide path having a constant rate of descent which was used by the military, and further commercialized for civilian use. It was commissioned by the CAA/Signal Corps.

WWII Allied Telecommunications Systems, by Julius J. Hupert - A recent graduate of Warsaw Polytechnic when World War II broke out, Hupert discusses his experience in Poland, his escape to France, and the development of a partial-crystal-control frequency generation scheme.

Robert Alden Hutchison Apollo reminiscences, by Robert Alden Hutchison - An account of Hutchinson's work at Dunbar Kapple Aerospace on the pipes on the Apollo rocket for the first stage, 2nd stage, 3rd stage and the moon lander stage

Black Magic, by Anthony J. Iacono - An anecdote about solving a problem related to the Fuel Quantity System on the A6E aircraft.

Hotter in the Shade, by Anthony J. Iacono - A brief story about Iacono's work on a particularly hot scenario while performing an EMC Safety of Flight Test.

John Jacobs Apollo Experience, by John Jacobs - Reminiscences on Jacobs' first job with the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation who had a contract for the maintenance and operation of the NASA Field site in Bermuda.

Kumar Krishen's Moon Exploration Journey, by Kumar Krishen - Reflections on Krishen's 53 years work in space exploration, from his first assignment was identifying his Moon surface material, to his last assignment before retiring analyzing problems in the human exploration of Mars

First-Hand:Background of how I became involved in the Saturn-Apollo Lunar Landing Program]], by Walker H. Land - Land's experiences at Huntsville Al from 1964 to 1968

Climbing Technical Mountains, by Bernard Maxum - Maxum provides a lengthy overview of his thirty-year career in the aerospace industry through Project Management, plus twenty years in academia through Professor and Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department at Texas State University

Adventures on the USS Intrepid, by John Meredith - This article traces the history of the USS Intrepid, its role in World War II, its voyages in southeast Asia from the 1960s-1970s and primarily focuses upon the Meredith's experiences as a crew member.

LearJet, Auto Pilot and Eight Tracks, by Kenneth Miller - A member of the founding management team at LearJet, Miller discusses his relationship with Lear Inc., where he developed auto pilot systems, eight track tape players and recalls how he got hired by fixing Bill Lear's wire recorder.

Banging the Large Drum Slowly, by William Merton Nellis - An account of Nellis' experience in working on a project for the Navy which included recording on large drums as a means of delaying analog signals.

To Randomize or Not to Randomize Should Not Be A Question, by John O’Donnell - An account of how things can go wrong when following poorly written standards, regarding NASA’s Terra spacecraft, the flagship of its polar-orbiting Earth Observing System fleet of remote sensing spacecraft

The Loon and the Lark, by Howard Wilson - Wilson discusses his experiences working as an engineer in the Army in the 1950s in the electrical modification shop, modifying German V-1 buzzbombs into the army Loon missile, and subsequent development of the LARK missile.